FDBusiness.com

Helped by its sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup, Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s biggest brewer, increased beer volumes by 2% in its second quarter and by 1.5% in the first half of 2010. The group’s focus brands grew volumes by 4% in the first half, led by Budweiser internationally, Antarctica, Brahma and Skol in Brazil and Harbin in China. During the first half Anheuser-Busch InBev gained or maintained market share in markets representing almost half of its total beer volumes.

However, apart from the international successes with Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch InBev is dissatisfied with its overall market share performance and is putting in place brand building and commercial programmes to improve matters in the second half of 2010 and into 2011.

EBITDA rose 5.4% to $6.44b during the first half with a margin of 36.8%, an organic improvement of 79 basis points. Revenue advanced by 3.1% to $17.50b. Net debt was reduced by $3b during the period to £42.1b. InBev’s $52b acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008 to create Anheuser-Busch InBev was financed with $45b of debt. The global brewer gained synergies of $310m during the first half, bringing total synergies from merging the two businesses to $1.67b.